MARTIN O’Neill is anxious to make sure his new rotation policy does not leave Villa in a spin by knocking them out of their stride this season.

The Villa boss has pledged to change his side around more after over-relying on a small collection of players throughout their last campaign.

But O’Neill acknowledges that it is vital to maintain a fluent balance rather than tinkering with the team every other game for the sake of it.

“We’ll make some changes in the side,” said O’Neill.

“I said to the players before the season that this is something we will consider.

“When everybody is back from international duty in a couple of weeks’ time we can get our heads down and start considering where we are and what we’re doing.

“Players for the most part here will have played some football for us, rather than waiting around.

“I’m not talking about changing things round for the sake of changing things round.

“It’s a fine balancing act because you still want to start evolving a pattern of play and sometimes when you chop and change it disrupts those things, but overall I want players to have plenty of football here.

“There’s nothing like it in terms of match experience and match fitness. Our pre-season was very good, but I think our match fitness will improve as the games go on.

“If some players get the opportunity there are places there up for grabs and the great thing about it is they realise that themselves.”